SWB YANKEES: Open IL playoffs tonight against Pawtucket

They cheer as if the team is playing on a field just a few yards away from their offices. They find themselves entrenched in nine innings being played hundreds of miles away in towns like Pawtucket and Rochester and Buffalo. This is what rooting for the home team has become, even in the late stages of a season successful beyond the most wild of imaginations.

Tonight, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees will face Pawtucket in Game 1 of their best-of-five International League playoff series. The first team to win three games will face either IL South Division champ Charlotte or IL West champ Indianapolis in the Governor's Cup championship series, which will open next week.

All Yankees home games throughout the playoffs, starting with Game 3 on Friday night, will be played at Frontier Field in Rochester.

For the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre front office, this is typically an exciting time of year, and to them it still is. But for a community that hasn't seen its hometown team pull off one of the more remarkable feats in minor league baseball history, maintaining a connection has been difficult.

"Since the team is on the road, there isn't as much education about how the team is doing," Yankees president and general manager Rob Crain said. "But when you say to somebody, 'Our team has played every game on the road this season, and we won the division championship,' they're like 'Oh my goodness, I can't even imagine that.' It's like a shock and awe thing. It has been really good for the team, but it's tough for the community because they don't get to know the guys."

The Yankees that will take on Pawtucket aren't going to look like the ones who scrapped their way to the top of the North division throughout the 2012 campaign.

Eight players who were on the roster last Thursday night when the Yankees clinched the division are no longer with the team. Catcher Francisco Cervelli, shortstop Eduardo Nunez, outfielder Chris Dickerson and pitchers Adam Warren, Justin Thomas and Cory Wade were all promoted to New York when rosters expanded Sept. 1. Shortstop Ramiro Pena was designated for assignment to clear a spot for Dickerson on the 40-man roster, and first baseman/outfielder Kosuke Fukudome was outright released by the organization Monday.

So, for manager Dave Miley, what remains is a third of a roster that is relatively new to both Triple-A and the Yankees' 2012 plight.

The Yankees lost their leadoff hitter in Dickerson, their No. 3 hitter in Nunez and Cervelli, who had been hitting in the middle of the order all season, and combined, that's plenty of production that needs to be replaced. Doug Bernier and Yadil Mujica, who was called up from Class A Tampa, will likely split the shortstop duties in Nunez's stead, but neither possess his potent bat.

Austin Romine, the stud catching prospect who missed most of the season with a back problem, will replace Cervelli behind the plate, and Darnell McDonald, a one-time Pawtucket star, will likely get Dickerson's at-bats, even though he hit just .191 in 31 games at Triple-A. But the middle of the batting order decimated by the call-ups will be manned by veteran Cole Garner and youngsters Ronnier Mustelier and Melky Mesa.

One area untouched by the call-ups and changes is the starting rotation, which will head into the weekend anchored by three veterans.

Right-hander John Maine will open the playoffs on the mound for the Yankees tonight against the Red Sox after going 3-0 and not allowing an earned run in any of his last three starts. Right-hander Ramon Ortiz, the Yankees' most consistent starter all season, will get the ball in Game 2, and lefty Mike O'Connor is slated to start Game 3.

After that, who will pitch late in the series remains up in the air. Relievers Chase Whitley and Manny Delcarmen, who has been with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for most of the season, have made spot starts. But a pair of young lefties just up from the lower minors - Matt Tracy and Vidal Nuno - could be in line to provide the Yankees with innings. Tracy, in fact, started against Pawtucket on Sunday and allowed just one run on three hits in five innings.

Despite the changes to the roster, Crain said he's going to regret not being able to open the gates at PNC Field this week. He's going to miss the buzz of excitement that would surely have been tangible throughout the stadium. He's going to miss the time when the die-hard fans arrive to see top-quality baseball. He's upset the hometown fans don't get to see the Yankees try to finish off a season that most considered impossible.

During the offseason, he said the organization won't necessarily use the success of the 2012 team to try to make a push to sell tickets for the reopening of PNC Field in 2013. Selling family fun and an enjoyable atmosphere is the goal, Crain said, because selling winning baseball in the minors, where roster changes can make victories often impossible, is a risky proposition out of the front office's control.

But winning baseball certainly helps. So do positive stories. And in 2012, the Yankees can build off of both.

"When the postseason comes around, the people that go to the games for the playoffs are there to watch high-quality baseball," Crain said. "They're the best fans you have. Everyone is focused on each strike, each run, each inning. The atmosphere is a little bit different. It's a totally different feel."

This time, they'll feel it in Rochester. But they'll still be cheering back home.

Contact the writer: dcollins@timesshamrock.com

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